(music throughout) On October 20th, 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft
collected a sample from asteroid Bennu.
Navigation. Nav is go for TAG.
Program Manager. Program Manager is go for TAG
All stations, this is OREx systems on OREx cord, all subsystems are go for TAG.
Position uncertainty is 0.5 meters
(clapping) predicted TAG lateral offset is 1.7 meters
Hazard probability is zero percent
OSIRIS-REx’s sampling mechanism penetrated Bennu’s regolith
and fired its nitrogen gas bottle to stir up sample material for collection in the TAGSAM head.
At 6:08pm EDT, the team on Earth received confirmation of a successful touchdown.
OREx has descended below the five meter mark
the hazard map is go for TAG
and we have touchdown! (cheering)
After spending approximately 6 seconds at the surface,
OSIRIS-REx fired its thrusters and backed away from sample site Nightingale.
Images taken a few days later by the SamCam camera showed rocks and dust
escaping the sampler head.
The team believed it collected a sufficient sample and decided to seal
the TAGSAM to preserve the remaining material.
The spacecraft made one more flyover of Bennu and saw
just how big a mark it left on the asteroid’s surface.
The TAG event sent boulders flying across Nightingale’s surface.
OSIRIS-REx completed its last flyover of Bennu at around 6 am EDT on April 7th 2021
and slowly began drifting away from the asteroid.
On May 10th, 2021, OSIRIS-REx fired its thrusters
and began its two-year cruise back home to Earth.
As OSIRIS-REx approaches Earth, it will jettison
the Sample Return Capsule that contains pieces from asteroid Bennu.
The SRC will then travel through Earth’s atmosphere
and land under parachutes at the Utah Test and Training Range on September 24, 2023.
Once recovered, the capsule will be transported to the curation facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center,
where the sample will be removed for distribution to laboratories worldwide,
enabling scientists to study the formation of our Solar System and Earth as a habitable planet.